ABSTRACT
Across the education systems of Western Europe, a resurgence of interest in citizenship education2 is taking place. A number of factors are seen to be contributing to the urgency of the matter, including disillusionment with democracy, the threat to democracy from the mass media, the rapid pace of social and political change, the alienation of young people, rising crime rates, and increasing ethnic intolerance (Newton 1994). In Eastern Europe, too, many similar concerns are being expressed and are compounded by the need to introduce new approaches to civic education in response to the introduction of ideological pluralism and market economics (Valchev 1992, Rachmanova and Severukhin 1994). A recent report (UNESCO 1993) emphasizes the critical role played by schools in promoting stable pluralist societies where coherence within the community is not threatened by value diversity. It suggests that schools must be places where ‘peace, human rights, tolerance, international and intercultural understanding, solidarity and cooperation, peaceful conflict resolution and democratic organisation are fostered’.
